Dell's largest investor opposes buyout as too low

(Reuters) - Dell Inc's largest independent shareholder, Southeastern Asset Management, on Friday vowed to fight a $24.4 billion buyout of the No. 3 PC maker led by CEO Michael Dell, cementing opposition to what would be the largest buyout since the start of the financial crisis.

Southeastern's opposition to the deal, which Reuters first reported late on Thursday, sets up a potential battle with billionaire founder Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake, who are pushing a deal to take the company private at $13.65 a share.

Southeastern, run by activist investor Mason Hawkins and owner of 8.5 percent of Dell, including options, argues that the company is worth $24 a share if its financial services division, recent acquisitions and other assets were factored in.

With Southeastern's objection, shareholders representing 11 percent of the Dell shares not held by Michael Dell have now said they will vote against the deal, according to news reports. Billionaire Dell, who created the computer maker out of his college dorm room in 1984, holds a roughly 16 percent stake.

Dell shares reversed course and climbed into positive territory on Friday after the announcement, and closed up 0.74 percent at $13.63.

"We are writing to express our extreme disappointment regarding the proposed go-private transaction, which we believe grossly undervalues the Company," Hawkins and Chief Investment Officer Staley Cates wrote in a letter.

"We retain and intend to avail ourselves of all options at our disposal to oppose the proposed transaction, including but not limited to a proxy fight, litigation claims and any available Delaware statutory appraisal rights."

Representatives of Dell and Silver Lake declined to comment on Southeastern's statement.

Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi estimates Hawkins' asset management house paid an average of more $20 a share for its stake, meaning a loss of at least $825 million at the current $13.65 offer price.

A LOOMING BATTLE

Under the buyout's terms, a majority of shares not held by Michael Dell must be voted in favor of the deal for it to proceed.

Memphis, Tennessee-based Southeastern believes the Dell board had several alternatives that would have produced a far better outcome for public shareholders, including breaking up the company and selling the units separately.

"Selling multiple business units to strategic buyers could easily exceed $13.65 per share," the letter read.

Dell was regarded as a model of innovation as recently as the early 2000s, pioneering online ordering of custom PCs and working closely with Asian suppliers and manufacturers to assure rock-bottom production costs. But it missed the big industry shift to tablet computers, smartphones and high-powered consumer electronics such as music players and gaming consoles.

Michael Dell struck a deal early this week to take Dell private for $24.4 billion in the biggest leveraged buyout since the financial crisis, partnering with Silver Lake and Microsoft Corp. The aim is to facilitate Dell's difficult transition from a commodity maker of computers into a provider of services to enterprises as a private company, away from Wall Street's scrutiny.

But Southeastern, the most prominent of a clutch of investors, including the Alpine Capital Research and Schneider Capital funds, which have voiced opposition to the buyout, on Friday argued that the company had the capability to pay a $12 special dividend to shareholders, realizing much more value while still retaining significant cash-flow.

It also suggested a Dutch auction or some other structure that would involve a public tender of shares.

Dell has now gone into a go-shop process, during which it can solicit better offers. But Hawkins and Cates argue that Michael Dell's involvement may affect that procedure.

"We are concerned that given the participation of Michael Dell in this transaction, that a traditional go shop process is not sufficient to ensure that the Company receives superior offers," they wrote.

Morningstar analyst Carr Lanphie said it is not a surprise that some investors do not like the offer price, but said the stock would fall sharply if the deal does not go through.

"The point being that if this doesn't go through, you are going to swallow a 35-40 percent decline in share price," Lanphie said. "Then, your chairman just had his attempted buyout rejected.

"Given the management they have lost in the last couple of months, will they be able to continue to grow the company? That is something the investors will need to consider," he added.

(Reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Gary Hill and Dan Grebler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dells-largest-investor-opposes-buyout-too-low-202843355--sector.html

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5 types of killer social media content - Internet Marketing Blog

Have you ever thought why some businesses experienced tremendous success on their social media strategies? All it takes is creating great content that makes people crazy to share it with their friends. There is no magic formula but hard and consistent work. Think yourself as a standalone newspaper that needs to find or create content that everyone wants to SHARE.

Instead of trying to find out what type of content your fans want; put yourself in their shoes, would you share the piece of content you created? Would it make you go crazy and spread the word about it? If yes, then you are on the right track.

Here are 5 types of content that have proved to help businesses increase engagement on social networks:

1. Photos ? Internet is all about visuals, therefore having a lot of photos at your social media profiles on a daily basis is essential. It does not mean that any photos will work, make sure they are relevant to your content and most importantly are worth taking a look at them. Invest in a good camera and build your photography skills, look around for ideas and be willing to learn. You will be surprised the difference to the level of engagement a great photo makes compared to an average one. Avoid copying photos, you can either buy royalty free ones or simply go out and create content yourself. For example, if you run a hotel, go around your city, take a lot of photos from your city?s traveler?s hot spots, watermark them and publish them. Do not forget, the more photos your show the more time your visitors will stay at your pages.

2. Videos ? Similarly to the photos are videos, they work great because it is human nature to just sit and watch a great video. Again, content must be great and worth taking the time to watch. On the contrary to photos, it is harder to produce high quality videos because it requires more time and resources. You do not need quantity but quality. Invest in a good video camera, write the script yourself and start shooting. Make sure you add your logo and play around with the animations.

3. Voting Polls ? Voting polls are viral by nature; it is just human nature to answer a question and most importantly wanting to see what others think about it as well. They can be as simple as ?how did you spend your weekend ?and does not require a lot of critical thinking. Do not forget, the hardest your content is to be understood the easiest to be ignored. Furthermore, people feel good when someone is asking them about their daily activities; they feel that someone cares about them, so this someone better be you and not your competitors. There are many voting polls apps for all social media networks, just stick to the simplest ones.

4. Contests ? Social media contents are also another great tool to increase engagement with your fans and followers. However, it requires planning and most importantly a prize hard to resist. There are plenty of apps out there to create contents. It can be linked to a local event e.g F1 race or just a standalone competition. Create great visuals and build as much publicity as you can around it. Photo contests are great examples of successful social media contests as they viral by nature e.g vote for your favorite place in your city, or favorite Halloween costume.

5. Exclusive content ? If you want to increase engagement for a special social media network advocates, create content available only for them. Exclusive videos, photos, special discounts, or celebrity interviews are great means to achieve that. Make sure the content is appealing to your audience, it is not distributed anywhere else and it is difficult for the mass to get access to it.

Example: Exclusive photos of the F1 Race in Monaco; Planning & Executing (There is a high chance that only few will be able to attend such an event as opposed to a Halloween party, so here comes exclusivity and difficulty for the mass to get access to it)
1. Assign your team to take hundreds (the more the better) of photos before, during and after the event.
2. Send out a newsletter and let everyone know about this exclusive content.
3. Create a new tab at your Facebook page and require for visitors to like your page before viewing the content.
4. Promote the posts at the social network (Facebook promoted posts have 10x higher click through and engagement rate)

Finding out what content works the best for your audience requires a lot of trial and error events, collect data and based on it decide where to focus.

Which of these 5 types of content do you use?

Source: http://www.thewebcitizen.com/2013/02/08/5-types-of-killer-social-media-content/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=5-types-of-killer-social-media-content

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Video: Flu activity on the decline

>>> some good news tonight about the nasty flu season we've been enduring in this country. cdc says flu activity is down. we have probably, probably seen the worst of the season. flu activity was listed as widespread this week. 38 states at least down from 42 states last week. news remains bad for the elderly, however, with more than 50% of hospitalizations in patients over

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50749603/

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Justin Timberlake Unveils 20/20 Experience Track List And Cover!

JT's first album since 2006's FutureSex/LoveSounds has 10 tracks, including 'Suit & Tie' and two songs he played at a Super Bowl party.
By Katie Atkinson

Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience album art
Photo: RCA

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1701520/justin-timberlake-2020-experience-track-list-album-cover.jhtml

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US wholesale stockpiles dip 0.1 pct. in December

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 file photo, trucks wait to be loaded at the Port in Los Angeles. The government reports how much wholesalers adjusted their stockpiles in December on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 file photo, trucks wait to be loaded at the Port in Los Angeles. The government reports how much wholesalers adjusted their stockpiles in December on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? U.S. wholesalers cut their stockpiles slightly in December while their sales were unchanged, suggesting businesses were cautious at the end of a weak quarter.

The Commerce Department said Friday that wholesale business stockpiles dipped 0.1 percent in December from November to $497.7 billion. That followed a 0.4 percent rise the previous month.

Inventories of furniture and automotive goods fell by the most in more than three years. Farm product stockpiles also dropped sharply, likely reflecting the impact of this summer's drought in the Midwest.

Less restocking reduces factory production, which slows economic growth. A big decline in restocking was a major reason the government estimated last week that the economy shrank in the October-December quarter.

Separately, the Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit narrowed sharply in December because exports rose while oil imports plummeted. The smaller trade gap means the economy almost surely grew in the October-December quarter ? an improvement from the government's initial estimate last week.

Still, the slower growth in restocking will offset some of the improvement from a brighter trade picture. Both figures were not available when the government reported its estimate last week. The government will issue its second estimate for fourth-quarter growth on Feb. 28.

Sluggish restocking by companies and deep cuts in defense spending are expected to keep growth at the end of last year weak.

Economists at Barclays Capital on Friday said they now expect growth at an annual rate of 0.3 percent in the October-December quarter.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-08-US-Wholesale-Inventories/id-33df96af788247c7a8e3b0ed9c1feb5a

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Monopoly to get new lineup of tokens

FILE - This product image provided by Hasbro, shows the board game Monopoly. The end is near for the shoe, wheelbarrow or iron in the classic Monopoly game as fans vote Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013 in the final hours of a contest to determine which token to eliminate and which piece to replace it with. (AP Photo/Hasbro, File)

FILE - This product image provided by Hasbro, shows the board game Monopoly. The end is near for the shoe, wheelbarrow or iron in the classic Monopoly game as fans vote Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013 in the final hours of a contest to determine which token to eliminate and which piece to replace it with. (AP Photo/Hasbro, File)

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) ? The classic Monopoly game is set for its most significant change in decades after fans of the game designed nearly 80 years ago voted to add a new token to replace the shoe, wheelbarrow or iron after they received the least support in an online contest.

Toy maker Hasbro Inc. is scheduled to announce the new token lineup Wednesday morning, hours after fans cast their final ballots to determine which of the five proposed pieces to add and which of the existing tokens to eject.

The tokens identify the players and have changed quite a lot since Parker Brothers bought the game from its original designer in 1935.

The voting closed just before midnight Tuesday. Rhode Island-based Hasbro says the wheelbarrow, shoe and iron were neck and neck for elimination through the Save Your Token Campaign. The new addition will be a robot, diamond ring, cat, helicopter or guitar.

Fans from more than 120 countries have voted.

The online contest to change the tokens was sparked by chatter on Facebook, where Monopoly has more than 10 million fans. The initiative was intended to ensure that a game created nearly eight decades ago remains relevant and engaging to fans today.

Monopoly's iconic tokens originated when the niece of game creator Charles Darrow suggested using charms from her charm bracelet for tokens. The real-estate trading game is based on the streets of Atlantic City, N.J., and has sold more than 275 million games worldwide.

The current eight tokens are an iron, racecar, Scottie dog, a shoe, thimble, top hat, wheelbarrow and battleship. Most of the pieces were introduced with the first Parker Brothers iteration of the game in 1935, and the Scottie dog and wheelbarrow were added in the early 1950s.

Versions of Monopoly with the new token will come out later this year.

___

Monopoly: https://www.hasbro.com/monopoly

___

Rodrique Ngowi can be reached at www.twitter.com/ngowi

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-02-06-Monopoly-New%20Tokens/id-8ea5a37f1dad4bf9a811666accc4ffeb

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Berlusconi brother slammed for soccer player slur

ROME (AP) ? Last week it was Silvio Berlusconi who got into hot water for praising Benito Mussolini. This week it's the former premier's younger brother who has sparked outrage ? by calling an Italian superstar soccer player of African descent the family's "little black boy."

In a much viewed video clip, Paolo Berlusconi told a crowd of supporters Sunday that he was off to the soccer stadium to see Mario Balotelli, a prolific striker recently acquired by his brother's AC Milan soccer team ? calling him by an insulting and patronizing term for black people.

Italy has had blatant episodes of racism in soccer, with monkey chants against black players a relatively common occurrence. Paolo Berlusconi's racist quip in Milan ("Now, let's go see the family's little black boy, the hot head") provoked chuckles among the friendly crowd, although scathing comments soon flooded the Internet.

While the brothers' comments have caused international bafflement, there may be a political element.

They come in the midst of an election campaign in which the elder Berlusconi hopes to make a political comeback, and have raised speculation his camp sees any public stir as one that will help their cause, especially as it angles for far-right support.

Silvio Berlusconi raised eyebrows last week by praising the late Italian fascist dictator for having "done good" as Europe observed Holocaust remembrance day. Some commentators saw a ploy to steal votes from a new small but growing far-right force.

There has also been speculation that Berlusconi bought the services of the popular Balotelli in the first place to boost his election chances. Team officials have described Balotelli's transfer from Manchester City as a dream come true. The billionaire business baron, who has been premier three times since creating a center-right party in the early 1990s, has been running second in most opinion polls, behind the center-left's candidate.

A cartoon in Corriere della Sera recently depicted Berlusconi after the Balotelli deal as campaigning as a black man in an AC Milan uniform. The media mogul on Wednesday denied that his team acquired Balotelli to secure an advantage at the ballot box ? not just on the football pitch.

"I had no thought, not even 0.0 percent, that Balotelli could help the electoral campaign," Berlusconi said during a radio interview.

Balotelli, a member of the Italian national soccer team, was born in Sicily to Ghanaian parents. His spectacular skills have won him millions of fans, even as his volatile personality has brought him his own share of controversy.

Immigration is a relatively new phenomenon in Italy, which for many years had been a source of emigrants, first to the Americas, and then to northern Europe. The main coalition partner in Berlusconi's three governments was an anti-immigrant party whose former leader once referred to immigrants as "bingo bongos."

Children born in Italy who have non-Italian parents have to wait until they are 18 before they can become Italian citizens.

Reflecting usage by the broader Italian public, Italian mainstream media often use clich?s long shunned in other cultures to refer to foreigners. For example, it is not uncommon for news stories to refer to Chinese on second, or even first reference as those "people with almond-shaped eyes."

As more Italians travel abroad, and as their children increasingly sit side-by-side in classrooms with immigrants' offspring ? who speak Italian like the locals and root for Italy's soccer teams ? sensitivity to racial and ethnic slurs is slowing growing.

Balotelli was often the target of racial chants from opposing fans when he played for Inter, AC Milan's cross-town rival. Juventus fans once hung a banner saying, "Black Italians don't exist."

But there are concrete signs of progress.

Last month, Balotelli's new teammates at Berlusconi's squad walked off the field during a friendly after racist chants were directed at midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng, who is from Ghana.

Balotelli made no immediate public comment about Paolo Berlusconi, the vice-president of AC Milan, describing him as the household's "little black boy." But he has been cautiously optimistic about changing attitudes toward blacks on a continent where they are relatively recently new arrivals in large numbers.

"Racism is very tough to fight," Balotelli said recently. "I really don't know how to defeat it. You need to keep firm and sooner or later we'll win," he said.

On Sunday, at the game Paolo Berlusconi set out to watch, Balotelli scored both of his new team's goals in a 2-1 win over Udinese.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/berlusconi-brother-slammed-soccer-player-slur-184322261--sow.html

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